Abuja (ICRC) – In recent days, surgical teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have treated over 90 people wounded in the bomb blasts in Madagali and Maiduguri in north-eastern Nigeria. Nigerian Red Cross volunteers administered first aid to the wounded in both incidents.

“An ICRC surgical team, together with surgeons from Michika Hospital, treated 76 victims of the blast in Madagali market, while another ICRC surgical team treated 15 people injured in Maiduguri on Sunday morning,” said Dr Hashemi Said Padshah, an ICRC health coordinator in Nigeria.

The ICRC currently has two surgical teams in Nigeria, both based in the State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri, in Borno state. They treat people wounded in the conflict and internally displaced people in need of surgical care. They are also ready to help other hospitals cope with a sudden influx of mass casualties at a moment’s notice. Each team consists of a surgeon, an anaesthetist and a nurse, all of whom are experienced in dealing with wounds of this kind.

The ICRC’s medical teams have significant experience acquired in many different armed conflict situations around the world. The organization shares this expertise and knowledge of dealing with conflict wounds by providing training and manuals for medical practitioners.

“In the last seven years, the ICRC has trained nearly 400 Nigerian doctors and nurses to treat weapon-wounded patients,” said Dr Padshah. “We aim to equip Nigerian practitioners with these extra skills because everyone has a right to health care in armed conflict, regardless of what side they are on or their political or any other affiliation.”

ICRC surgical teams have treated over 1,800 weapon-wounded patients in north-eastern Nigeria this year. The ICRC also supports 16 primary health-care centres and nine mobile clinics providing primary health-care services to internally displaced people, returnees and residents in the north-east, where 436,000 patients have been seen since the beginning of the year. Also in 2016, 13,000 children under five suffering from severe acute malnutrition were treated and 15,500 babies were delivered in ICRC-supported clinics.